


Puppet Strings

by 123NY



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Canon Compliant, One Shot, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:39:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27331336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/123NY/pseuds/123NY
Summary: Your gang is trying to establish its niche in Brockton Bay. However, the territories of its villains are hardly welcoming.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7
Collections: The Cauldron Give-a-Fic-a-Thon





	Puppet Strings

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Cauldron's October 2020 Give-a-Fic-a-Thon.

I laid back on the reclining chair, an old piece of junk whose faded right armrest was dotted with cigarette burns and whose left had been gashed open. It was lumpy, only reclined a fraction of the ways back and I hated sitting in it. However, it was still the nicest chair left in the place, and there was a principle to it. A leader should get the nicest things, and if I turned even this meager luxury down, instead choosing to stand and pace the room without sitting down, it would open the question of whether I should have been leader at all. A leader who turns down spoils is someone who should have a different niche, one for people who are okay picking scraps after other, more assertive people have gotten their share.

This building, the squat single-family residence of 43 Adams Street, was a nice find, all things considered. A two-story house far enough away from the coast that it hadn’t been hit hard by Leviathan’s waves, it was uninhabited, and the street was desolate enough that we’d been able to move in without drawing attention. 

The front door opened into a foyer. Turning right took you to a kitchen and dining room, while turning to the left either took you the flight of stairs that led to second-story bedrooms if you turned immediately, or to a small living room. Looters had clearly been through the house and taken the obvious valuables, but it still had basic furnishings, including some bedsheets Alice had found in a bedroom closet that weren’t moldy or even threadbare. 

This house would have been one of the nicest affordable spots in Brockton Bay even before Leviathan had tried to sink it into the ocean, and I doubted we could have found a better spot that wasn’t teeming with crowds of citizens or constantly passed by Protectorate patrols. 

There were three knocks at the door followed by a voice saying “I’m here,” and a final knock. John opened the door. 

John always dressed in an outfit that _should_ have been fancy, but was worn enough it simply looked ratty. His coat was visibly threadbare, the dress shoes he insisted on wearing every day were scuffed and scratched, and his bowler hat had a hole poked in its rim. All things considered, a perfect look for Brockton Bay.

John pulled off his shoes and left them on the mat by the door, striding into the living room with a small pocket notebook in his hand.

“I walked around a little bit. There aren’t many people here, and they’re pretty cagey, but I found a few talkative old guys who didn’t really seem to give a shit,” said John. “Apparently there’s been some fighting in these parts. Things got nasty just a few nights ago, before we got here. I can’t tell you exactly what happened, but there was a cape fight. Apparently there have been a bunch of those lately, and people have been slowly filtering out. Some people have even been willing to hop over to the shantytowns down by the beaches. Apparently things got worst here, where there was a gunfight. Basically people want out of Imp’s territory.”

“Who?”

“Oh, she’s some z-list supervillain who has laid stake to the parts around here. Didn’t you read the PHO threads I pulled up before we headed out here?”

“I skimmed ‘em. I figured staying out of the crowded territories like Skitter’s with a ton of people while also making sure we didn’t get mauled by mutant dogs was the stuff we needed to cover.”

“Fair enough. Either way, she hasn’t done a good job of it, from what I hear. She’s the one of the established villains in the area people feel most comfortable taking on, so most of the fighting has been centered in her territory lately, that classified incident where the Protectorate top brass all got called in excepted.”

“Well thanks for volunteering for this John. I don’t know where I’d be without you. I’ll give you a bonus on the next job.”

“I thought you said I was getting a bonus,” shouted Rodrigo from the kitchen, slathering peanut butter on bread he held in his hand at eye level. 

Well, Rodrigo wasn’t kept around for his table manners. 

“You can both get a bonus. This isn’t a competition,” I shouted. 

I could hear Alice’s exaggerated groan from her spot sitting at the kitchen counter. “What jobs?”

“We only just got here,” I said. “It’ll take some time, but I’m sure we can find something. If the villains really do rule the roost here, I doubt the police or PRT will be able to do much of anything about us. We just gotta find the right niche.”

Alice snorted, and I decided to pay her no mind. She had been grumpy more or less continuously since we’d been driven out of Exeter, fighting every decision even if it would have otherwise been unanimous, and making sure to litter every conversation with cynical remarks. If she was going to be a bitch I couldn’t really _stop_ her, but entertaining her would be the worst course of action. A leader couldn’t let himself be dragged to the gutter by pissy underlings. 

“About time to call a meeting anyway,” I said. “Now that John here has scoped around a bit- which he volunteered to do, I will remind you- I say it’s time to plan things out. Alice, see if you can find Jose. Meet in the dining room.”

I waited to see if Alice would defy my authority, but she didn’t, although she lifted herself from the stool with more visible effort than was needed, picking up a hairband from the counter and quickly pulling up her blonde hair into a ponytail. 

Rodrigo, never one to leave someone else without assistance, scarfed down his sandwich, and shouted for Jose while his mouth was still stuffed with bread.

Alice couldn’t seem to find Jose, even with Rodrigo helping by shouting at the top of his lungs (and man could he shout). She stomped up the stairs to the bedrooms, searching, before coming back down to investigate the basement. 

It swiftly became clear that Jose wasn’t around. I had a vague memory of him going out for a smoke a little bit ago, but he didn’t come rushing back into the house even when Rodrigo had shouted out the front and back doors.

“You know what? If Jose isn’t here and decided to go wandering off for some reason, that’s his problem. If he’s dumb enough to go for casual strolls without telling us, he doesn’t get any input even if he does avoid getting shot.”

Rodrigo grunted and walked to the dining room. Appropriately, he took a spot standing near one of the windows- or rather near one of the empty window frames. 

Alice, without invitation, sat down on one of the chairs. 

“Okay,” I said, sitting down in the remaining open chair. “John here went out for a bit and scoped the area. Rodrigo, Alice, you heard what he said, right?”

They nodded.

“John, why don’t you give us a complete summary anyway?” asked Rodrigo.

“So, are we supposed to be making a game plan of some sort?” asked Alice after John finished his summary. 

“Indeed,” I said. “It doesn’t need to have too many details at this point, but I think we should have a plan. Now, what I’m thinking is that, if the PRT and police are short-handed and focused on keeping control of things where the people are, that we have a golden opportunity. We have lucked into an out-of-the-way place, and we’ve got experience. I think we could find some good opportunities doing jobs for people who want ‘em.”

“Are we going to just wander into the heart of Downtown and start asking sketchy people loitering in alleys if they want us to carry weed to the Trainyards?” asked Alice. Good lord was her tone nasty. 

“Why not,” I said, pointing a finger for emphasis. “It’ll take a bit to figure out the secrets here, but I’m confident we can find something.”

“Lots of local capes might be a problem,” said Rodrigo. Well, he was in good standing and his concerns were something I’d be a bit more willing to listen to than Alice’s. “You know how cape gangs are. Always incredibly touchy about anybody muscling in.”

“At least the Nazis are less of a problem now,” said John, fingering his pencil bar mustache. 

“John, you are always the best at this. Tomorrow at eleven, I say we all go further downtown, and see if we can’t scope out some jobs. Even if it’s just some druggies who want us to leave some stuff outside of a den, I think we can find something to get ourselves started.” 

“Hopefully Imp won’t mind too much,” said Rodrigo. 

“She won’t,” I said empathetically. “Even if she cared about us, everything points to her having no control over this part of the city.”

With that, I let everyone get back to what they had been doing. 

At nine or so that night, a full five hours later, Jose finally showed up, coming through the front door without giving the proper knock. I almost reached for my handgun before I saw who it was. When I did see who it was, I lifted it anyway and pointed it straight at him. He deserved the scare. 

“Where the hell have you been?!” I shouted.

“Yeah, man. Are you trying to get yourself shot?” hollered Rodrigo, rushing over from the dining room. 

“I just got lost. That’s it, I swear,” said Jose, lifting his hands like shields. “I just took a few wrong turns and had a hard time getting back. Most of the street signs are out and my phone kept losing its signal. Look, the point is, I’m fine.” 

I rolled my eyes. “You’re not going out without anybody else again because you’re a dumbfuck. You do this again and you’re not getting off so easy.”

“Yeah,” Jose said. “For sure.”

He was sweating profusely, and I thought I’d rattled him pretty well. 

“I’m going to bed now,” he said.

Rodrigo, always quick to be friendly, was already stepping forward to embrace Jose in a bear hug. “Already? You don’t want to have a beer or two? Sure, it’s Coors, but it’s drinkable.”

“I know, but I’m tired. I think I’ll just go to bed,” said Jose.

“All right, if you’re really that tired,” said Rodrigo. “Your loss though.”

“Hope you don’t have nightmares about asking strangers for directions,” I said, chuckling. 

Jose slunk up the stairs, giving me a nervous glance before he disappeared out of my sight. I hadn’t thought I’d scared him that badly, but he still looked positively terrified. He was always the easiest of us to spook, on top of being a few berries short of a bushel. 

Either way, tomorrow would be a new start. 

...

The heart of Brockton Bay’s downtown didn’t quite feel normal, and it wasn’t hard to pick out the signs that a monster from the deeps had been through there not even two months ago, but it hardly felt post-apocalyptic. People actually walked the streets, although always in clusters of two or more, and I could see lights on in many apartments.

John was leading the way. Talking to the old men and a few other residents of the city before heading out for the day, he had found a few potential leads for jobs. The first had been a bust, but John was hopeful that the rumor about something at the intersection of 13th and Washington would bear fruit. Frankly, John was always a little too quick to put stock in rumors, but if having someone as good at sniffing rumors out as him meant having to put up with him being a little too credulous, it was worth it. 

Alice was back at the house in Downtown South. Her mouth had made it an easy decision to have her stay to watch the house. I certainly wasn’t going to leave Jose in charge.

“Ah, here we are,” said John. Only one of the street signs at the intersection, marking Washington Avenue, was still standing, but John seemed confident that the place was right. He waved his hand and led me, Rodrigo and Jose into an alley, and pointed at a door painted in blue. 

“This is the spot,” he said. 

“I’ll do the knocking,” I said. “Anything I should know about?”

“Nothing that I was told,” said John.

“Do we really feel comfortable walking into an alley to knock on a strange door?” asked Rodrigo. 

“If you want, we can head over to the Bay itself,” said John. “I have two leads there. Although if those don’t pan out we’ll start running into issues. I’d need to start expanding my search or hope someone posts something more helpful on the public boards on PHO.”

“I say we do it,” I said. “We’re armed and alert, and we’re not just going to let them lead us into their basement after handing over our guns.” 

“If you say so boss,” said Rodrigo. 

The door was unlocked and opened almost immediately after my first knock. The man who opened the door was short, with a bald spot on the top of his head, but sporting a thick, bushy mustache, black streaked with gray. He was quick and to the point. “What do you people want?”

“We heard you people might need some jobs to get done,” I said, smiling wide for the man. “We’re here to do whatever you want.”

“Only two of you come in,” the man said. “The other two must leave.”

I weighed this in my head. It was certainly suspicious, but I’d interacted with plenty of paranoid motherfuckers in my day, some of whom had bizarre superstitions about any sort of illicit meeting, and plenty of them were honest and reputable. 

“If we keep it in the front room with the door unlocked. You understand,” I said. “John, Jose, go take a look around. Meet us back in here in, say, thirty minutes. That good for you?” I asked the balding man.

He nodded, and let me and Rodrigo in. 

The man, who never gave a name, explained the situation swiftly. He needed to deliver some loose Tinkertech to a crowded building in the shantytown near the beaches on the west end of the city. Due to some quirk of the tech he didn’t explain (and which I suspected he didn’t understand), it had to be delivered directly to the building and couldn’t be picked up anywhere else. However, the police were aware of this, and had staked out the place, and they apparently knew the faces of the man, and several of his associates. He didn’t know exactly who they could ID, but he wanted someone with no existing connection to him to pass off the tech. 

“It’s all quite small,” he explained. “You could fit it in a handbag. Simply go there between the hours of four and seven in the afternoon. The man watching the door will be Arthur. He’ll let you in, and direct you to where you need to go.”

“This is a one-time thing, I gather.”

“Indeed, once you come back here for payment, we needn’t cross paths again.”

“Well, that’s great, but how much am I getting up front?” I asked. 

The man gave an indignant huff, blowing an unpleasant scent from his mouth, which he evidently hadn’t brushed that morning. “This is a very simple and low-risk task. Simple enough I will save the payment for after you have completed it,” he said. 

“No,” I said. “I always get paid up front,” I said. 

“Well, you’re not going to this time. You’re not the only person who can do this job, so don’t think you can extort me. If you have to get paid up front, you can walk right out that door.”

I was about to push back on him, maybe even throw in an implied threat, but Rodrigo didn’t let me. “You really never pay up front?” he asked, his tone incredulous. 

“Did you not hear what I said? Are you hard of hearing?”

“No,” said Rodrigo, “but it is a little odd. Come on, I bet you can give a little something. Not something so big that we’ll run off with it, but just to show some good will.”

“Is this that important to you?” the man asked. “Look, I’m not in the mood to negotiate for this. It is a very simple job.”

“I won’t push it if you really are adamant, but I don’t think say, a measly, tiny twenty bucks is unreasonable. Tell you what, I’ll even give you a beer for your troubles.”

The man relented quickly, subtracting twenty bucks from his total payment, and handing the bill to us right there, although he still gave me an irritated glance as he handed the money to Rodrigo. 

Next, he handed us a plastic bag containing the Tinkertech, before shooing us out. He practically pushed me out the door, although he gave Rodrigo a gentle pat on the back instead. When he closed the door behind us, I could hear a sliding bolt being pushed into place. 

Me and Rodrigo waited a few minutes for John and Jose to return. “Let’s head back,” I said. 

Someone had tried to break in while we were gone. They had reached through the knocked-out panels of glass on the back door and turned the knob. Alice hadn’t seen them, and she figured they had rushed off hearing her rush to the door upon hearing it open. Grudgingly, I had to give her a compliment for taking the initiative to fix this, looping wire around the doorknob and attaching it to a handle in the kitchen so the door wouldn’t open all the way unless it was cut.

All in all, it had been a good day.

As I laid back in the reclining chair, I took a glance at Alice in the kitchen. She sipped a bottle of water, and I could see her hands shaking as she watched the back door.

…

Delivering the Tinkertech went as smoothly as the man had promised, even if the shantytown of the western city, the territory of Regent, was dirty, smelled of seawater much more strongly than the other regions of the city and didn’t seem to have any electricity. 

With the instructions from Arthur, Alice and I had pawned off the plastic bag of Tinker junk without issue to a redheaded woman and a scared-looking black kid hiding in the basement of the building next to a device that belched acrid smoke. 

I had wanted to bring Rodrigo along- he always made for the best muscle- but he’d talked me into letting Alice come instead, saying she deserved the chance to do something after protecting the house from intruders, and that he could keep an eye on Jose. Alice had been surprisingly agreeable. She had come with me, John had gone scouting, and Rodrigo had stuck with Jose at the house. 

“You’ve been quiet,” I said. “But that means you haven’t been bitching too much, so I’m okay with that.” 

We were walking up the stairs from the unfinished basement where we had handed off the Tinkertech. 

“If you’re okay with it, maybe you shouldn’t try to tick me off,” said Alice. 

As an afterthought, she threw in “I’m sorry,” after her remark.

That caught my attention. Alice wasn’t the sort to apologize. Even when she was making up for something she’d done wrong, she didn’t really apologize. Still, she wasn’t challenging me too much, so I figured I wouldn’t browbeat her about it. 

“Did that intruder rattle you or something?” I asked.

“Of course not,” Alice said. As we passed Arthur on the way out, she tipped her head slightly to him, and he did the same in return. Her indignation sounded more like her, defensive and quick to break out the verbal knives. “I guess it’s just the change. Our status quo has really gotten fucked up, and I guess it’s getting to me a little.” 

I was mulling over in my head what to do in response to that (trying to openly reassure her was a no-go), but she relieved me of that duty quickly. “Fuck, I’m going to regret saying that to you,” she said. 

“I’m going to hang that over your head,” I said. “But if you don’t act like a bitch I don’t think you’ll have any problems.”

…

“Let me be clear that I am not being an ‘unreasonable bitch’ when I say that this is completely insane,” said Alice. 

“Yeah, you know I’m not exactly a, what’s the word.. contrarian… “ said Rodrigo, “but this isn’t something I want to jump into.”

Jose gave a small whimper of agreement to Rodrigo.

“Look, I know that we were supposed to start small and make names for ourselves with lower-profile jobs, but this is a real opportunity,” I said. “Imp is a small-timer laying claim to a significant chunk of the city. She doesn’t have a real gang, and even with the other warlords here leaving her alone, she is still constantly having to fight off rivals. A real gang of people working as a group could run her out of here and make themselves top dogs. She’s no Tattletale. She doesn’t have an army of mercs at her command. She isn’t Skitter. The people still sticking around Downtown South aren’t going to be angry if she’s gone.”

“That is what the gentleman said,” added John. He didn’t need to make it clear that I was repeating the guy’s arguments. 

Alice was snarling. “This is what you always-” she cut herself off. She visibly grimaced. She began talking without any continuity with what she had been saying. “I’m just saying that this is a bad idea. John, can you at least take me to see this guy who is supposedly getting together a crack team to take on a supervillain warlord?”

“I tell you, I was there and I saw it,” I said. “He’s got a pretty great hideout in one of the abandoned warehouses, with a good number of men and weapons. He says he’s working on sussing out Imp’s hideout.”

“He hasn’t found it yet?” asked Rodrigo. “Boss, no offense, but you didn’t even know who Imp was two days ago. This sounds like a bunch of ex-Merchants trying to shoot themselves to the moon in a rocket.” He folded his arms “I think a second opinion and set of eyes is a good thing.”

I threw up my arm, pushing myself backwards so I rocked the dining table’s chair. “If you insist. But we’re going to make a decision on this tomorrow.”

…

“At least one of the guys there was a meth head,” Alice said with exasperation. “His teeth were black.”

“So there’s one guy who has done drugs and you’re scared off,” I shouted. “Just face it, you don’t want to give me a win. You’re still angry, and you gotta drag us all down with you.”

“Oh, that’s what it is. You know, I was being nice again, and all it took was me calling you out once on your dumb fucking idea before you’re shouting at me. This is the same thing that happened in Exeter. Your eyes grow bigger than your stomach, and we’re then getting run out of town with the fucking Clans on our trails.”

“I was wrong to mess with the Clans,” I admitted, immediately regretting it. 

_Can’t take that back now._

“This is different. We’re taking on one villain with backup. She isn’t going to last long anyway, and I am not going to let this slip right on by.”

“Boss, I think that it would be best if you and Alice both calmed down a bit,” said Rodrigo. “Give each other some more time to think about it.” 

“She had a whole fucking night to think anout it,” I snapped at him.

“I didn’t need an entire night to think it through,” retorted Alice. “But man oh man, did it only make me more sure that this is a terrible idea. But what else is new?”  
“Now listen here-”

“Your ideas always get us into trouble. You have no fucking skills. Rodrigo is always keeping you from making mortal enemies with everyone you’re rude to, John is always doing the research. You get to be in charge, but for what reason? I mean, what reason aside from the fact you were the ringleader when we were selling weed out of a locker in high school. You are a fucking waste of space, and yet we have to listen to you because you have an ego bigger than a fucking planet.”

I raised my hand to hit her. Rodrigo grabbed my wrist. 

“Let go,” I snarled. 

Rodrigo was strong, but he wasn’t a thug. I was surprised when his grip only tightened. 

“Okay, I won’t hit her, just let me go,” I said. 

Then he gripped tighter. His fingers were no longer just wrapping around my wrist, but digging into it. 

“You’re gonna draw blood,” I said, panic edging into my voice. I struggled, but it only made him squeeze even tighter. 

“Help me,” I screamed. I looked at John. 

John stood perfectly still. For that matter, so did Alice and Jose. They looked like statues, perfectly unmoving. Their faces were blank and expressionless, and they each stood with their hands rigid against their sides. 

“What the hell? I get it okay. We won’t go after Imp, if that’s what you want. Alice I’m sorry-”

“Excellent,” said an unfamiliar voice from behind me. 

I whipped my head, trying to see as best as I could around Rodrigo. 

The man, no, the kid, that I saw looked like some Renaissance fair freak, dressed in a baggy shirt. He wore a carnival mask and a silver crown on his head. 

Something I had read on a PHO page John had shared with welled up from my memory. 

Regent.

“I’m going to let go of you now,” Rodrigo said placidly.

Rodrigo’s fingers sprung open. 

“Don’t try anything though,” Regent said.

Some reflex made me try to step forward to him. I felt the cool touch of a blade on my throat.

“It feels really great to actually be holding a knife to your throat while you’re aware of it,” a female voice said. “So much drivel has come out of it. Z-lister. Saying I’m not going to last. I really hope I get a reason to slit that worthless tube open right now so no more of your stunningly moronic thoughts come from it.”

“Emphasis on ‘moronic,’” said Regent. He held a staff of some sort in his hand, and he twirled it casually as he spoke. 

“I don’t know if you can tell right now. But I have control of everyone in this room.”

Alice’s posture remained rigid, but when she spoke, I could see that she had some modicum of control, at least over how she spoke. That was her.

“Regent got me while I was home alone,'' she said.” She was clearly racked with nerves, but she stared me right in the eyes. “I guess Imp snuck in through the backdoor. It looked like whoever it was had run away, but she had snuck right in. Helped Regent tie me down.”

“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, that’s the expression, right?” asked Regent. 

“Sounds good enough,” muttered Imp.

“Yes, I told her to be somewhat less… tempered. I figured she might be able to hold you off from making any bad decisions. That went well for a little while. That was until you decided to set your eyes on my dearest.”

“Call me ‘my dearest’ again, and it’s your throat that is getting slit,” said Imp to Regent. 

I felt the paralyzing lock of fear disappearing from me, and I wanted to say something. I tried to reach for something defiant, but couldn’t. I yelped out “how did you get everyone?” my quiet voice a squeak.

“Got John when he took Alice to meet with the guy who wants to take Imp down,” said John.

Despite it all, despite the fact a supervillain was holding a knife to my throat, I felt irritated that Alice had lied to me.

“Got Rodrigo when you left him in the house with Jose while you and Alice dropped off the Tinkertech,” Rodrigo said. 

“Got Jose when he fucking ran into us when he got lost,” said Jose. “You’re right. He’s a dunce through and through.”

Jose’s face was unchanged as he mocked himself.

I wanted to throw myself at him. 

_I’m the problem Alice? Well I’m not the one who is responsible for this shitty bastard finding out about us._

“You couldn’t fucking tell me?” I said. Imp ran the knife lightly across my throat as I said it, and I heard a small snicker from behind her mask.

“I made it quite clear that that would be a terrible idea,” said Regent. “Even Jose here seemed to understand keeping his mouth shut was best.”

“Jose understood it because he’s an easily terrified man,” Jose said. “He may be dumb, but he likes to keep his own hide safe.”

“I was honestly going to leave you alone after nabbing Rodrigo,” Regent chortled. “But I happened to pass by while you were arguing about trying to take down Imp, and I sadly just couldn’t leave you be after that.”

“Are we almost done here?” asked Imp. “I’m getting a little bored with you explaining everything to him. Let’s just dump him and go.”

“No sense of karmic justice?” said Regent. “I have been exercising that lately.”

“I just want it to be clear Adams Street is my territory. Having some bozos who think they’re going to team up with some druggies and shoot me doesn’t jive with that.”

Regent walked up to me, holding his scepter so it was just in front of my chest. 

“I hope you all will thank me for this,” he said.

“Why the fuck would they thank you for this?” I hissed. 

“I think Alice articulated the reasons nicely without my help a few minutes ago,” Regent said. 

Regent eased his control, and I could see Rodrigo nodding mournfully, and, in the corner of my peripheral vision as I twisted my head as much as Imp would allow, Jose staring at the floor. 

John was the only one who spoke. “Alice is right that this isn’t working,” he said, his voice nearly a whisper.

“You really are a fuckup,” said Imp.

Regent poked me in the chest with the taser. My jaw clenched as my body strained, pain coursing through every inch of me.

“The rest of you can be on your way out,” Regent said. “You could stay in the City if you wish, but I think you’ll want to leave.” 

John, Alice, Jose and Rodrigo marched out of the house in a straight line, walking out the front door with robotic motions.

I felt my muscles begin to twitch and spasm, and not just from the taser. My right leg kicked forward. My left arm twitched.

“You may want to let go,” said Regent to Imp.

She removed her knife from my throat, stepping back as I felt my lunch rise up my esophagus, coming out as vomit onto the floor. 

“I won’t need you for too long,” Regent said. “But you will be very helpful at getting some troublesome people out of Imp’s hair.”

I vomited again, feeling ropes binding my hands behind my back as Regent stared down at me, his expression inscrutable behind the blank, unmoving gaze of his pure white mask. 

…

“He’s getting out of the city faster than a gazelle,” said Regent. 

“I sort of wish I could get to sense it,” said Imp, taking off her mask. “Dick.”

“So I shouldn’t feel bad?” Regent inquired.

“I know you’re not going to feel bad, and I wouldn’t want you to anyway.” 

Regent sneered slightly. “Skitter’s going to be here soon. Best get ready and make sure the construction workers all know. Wouldn’t want any surprises or accidents.” 

He reached out and saw through the eyes of everyone he had grasped that was within his range. Growing larger bit by bit and day by day. Underneath his mask, he smiled. 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
